Visiting Hikiyama Exhibition Hall, Karatsu

Last Sunday we had decided to take a drive🚙 to Hikiyama Exhibition Hall in Karatsu, Saga. I've been there many times before, but I'd never been to the exhibition museum, so I decided to go. 

Karatsu Kunchi is a Japanese matsuri festival that takes place between November 2 and 4 every year. On the first night of the festival called Yoiyama, the 14 decorated floats with lanterns for fall🍂 The gold, sliver and red lanterns🏮 are shining brightly with flashes of light⭐

The entrance of museum. I have to pay the 310 yen entrance fee💰 here.

Fourteen floats, called Yama (曳山), are lined up through the glass from the corridors on the first and second floors.

The floats, which have different designs for each area, such as demons and masks, are built between the late Edo and the early Meiji periods and still in existence today😊 

  

Visiting Aoi Aso Shrine, Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto

In the evening, we went to Aoi Aso Jinja (青井阿蘇神社), a Shinto shrine in Hitoyoshi. 

According to Wikipedia, five of the structures within the shrine such as Romon (楼門), Honden (本殿) are listed as National Treasures of Japan.

During the 2020 Kyushu Floods the shrine was flooded, but only parts of the bridge were destroyed.

The Ichi-no-torii gate at the shrine entrance. 

Misogi Bridge (禊橋 -Misogibashi), an arch bridge spanning the Hasuike pond. As I mentioned above, the bridge was collapsed during the flood. It took three years to complete😄

Let's take a walk to the shrine.

Aoi Aso Jinja's Romon (楼門, lit. tower gate).  A thatched roof made of straw during the Azuchi-Momoyama period.

Honden or the main shrine⛩

Visiting Izumi crane sanctuary

On December 10, we had decided to take a drive🚙 to see cranes in Izumi, Kagoshima. 

Every year from mid-October to December, Siberian cranes migrate to Izumi to spend the winter, remaining until around March. Today there are 10000 birds on the migration ground😁

Driving on National Route 3 from Minamata Interchange on Minami-Kyushu Expressway and passing the central Izumi, we came to the crane sanctuary. You need to pay a 1000 yen entrance fee when entering a parking lot💵

A close up view of the birds is like this.

After that we went to different places where cranes are kept🐦